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LOYALTY 

iimiiiniiii iiiiiiniiig gi _ *g* __ j^ iniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiil 



AND OTHER POEMS 



Dedicated 

Go the ([tampions of 

(florid Democracy 



By MELV1N E. CRANDALL 



Page Two 



Copyright 1918 

By Melvin E. Crandall 

Northfield, Minn. 



Page Three 



LOYALTY 

f f iiimiiiif lumif lit urii ii 1 1 s 



AND OTHER POEMS 



ByMELVIN E.CRANDALL 



Page Four 



— 






m 



MAR -2 1918 



«Nj 



Page Five 



FOREWORD 

It is not presumed this little book 
will live thruout the ages, 

That everybody's going to read 
its half an hundred pages. 

But if by chance it reaches you 
from parent, friend or lover, 

Please do not turn the author down 
till you read between the covers. 




Page Six 



Page Seven 



LOYALTY 

Columbia, I came for I longed to be free, 
I dreamed of a land with a plenty for me. 
Thou gave me protection and freedom, beside 
Rich acres of land wherein to abide. 

The power that rules in the land of my birth, 
Ere long will be gone from the face of the 

earth. 
I mourn for my kin in that war-ridden land, 
Yet ready to serve at Columbia's command. 

Columbia, I came nor will I return, 

1*11 watch and I'll wait while the home fires 

burn. 
There's a boy in the trenches who'll die if need 

be, 
God grant he'll be spared to Thee and to me. 



Page Eight 



"WHERE ARE YOU AT?" 

We want all the loyal men that we can find, 
If you wish to show your colors, get in line. 
But if you do not know, and you guess you 

will not go 
'Cause you can't do so and so, stay behind. 

We have the men who do things at the front, 
And we have a place for those who groan and 

grunt. 
We'll consider him a foe just the same's we 

would a "pro," 
If, to the call he answers, "No, I won't." 

The job we have on hand is going through, 
And now the proposition's up to you, 
Are you going to get in line, or drag along be- 
hind 
And nag, and growl and whine at what we do? 



LOVE 

When the boys have finished training, 

and they're ordered to depart, 
There will be not one complaining, 

yet deep down within the heart 
There will come a lonesome feeling, 

over which they've no control, 
Nature's own way of revealing 

what the eye can ne'er behold. 



Page Nine 

"IF CALLAHAN WAS YOUNG" 

I'm glad me bie is ould enough to fight for 
Uncle Sam, 
And I wish that I was thirty-five years 
younger than I am. 
I would shoulder me ould musket, sure's me 
name is Callahan, 
And I'd go to church in Berlin, Sunday 
mornin'. 

I would take along as company me ould friend 
Michael Doyle, 
And we'd live and die together, two abreast 
or single foile. 
We would over-top the trenches, and we'd land 
on German soil, 
And we'd go to church in Berlin Sunday 
mornin'. 

We would lave the boys behind us and we'd 
hurry to the fray. 
Nor spend the time in "Blarney" wid our 
friends along the way. 
Sure we'd treat them all wid dacency and pass 
the time of day, 
And we'd go to church in Berlin Sunday 
mornin'. 

Wid me ould friend Doyle beside me, I would 
smash Von Hinden's line, 
I would then be afther sthoppin', the "Watch 
Upon the Rhine," 
Then I'd telephone to Pershin' and the boys we 
left behind, 
To come to church in Berlin Sunday mornin'. 



Page Ten 



"MY JAMIE" 

My Jamie has gone with the boys to the front, 

He has volunteered into the army. 
I'm afraid he'll be hurted but maybe he won't, 

Though the way they are fightin' alarms me. 
When the call came for soldiers he said he 
would go, 

While me heart was near breakin' I'd never 
say no, 
He gave to his country the service he owes, 

When he volunteered into the army. 

I'm proud of me Jamie, he's doin' his bit, 

There's no one can call him a slacker, 
To remind him of home I will send him a 
"Kit," 
Nor will I leave out his "terbaccer." 
There's nothing too good for the boys over 
there, 
The little I do will be nothing, compared 
With the hardships and pain they have offered to 
bear, 
When they volunteered into the army. 



X 



Page Eleven 



THE ALTERNATIVE 

If you don't like our land of freedom, 

If you don't like the "Gopher" state; 
If you don't like the land of plenty, 

We invite you to migrate. 
Go back to the country you came from 

Ere Gabriel blows his horn 
Your goods and your gold 
You must leave behind, I'm told. 

But go back where you were born. 

If you don't like to see the soldiers marching, 

If you don't like to see them drill ; 
If you can't get in step to martial music 

Go back to Kaiser Bill. 
If you don't like to see our banners waving, 

If you don't like the red, white and blue 
Be you Yankee, Slav or Dane, 
You had better catch a train 

Before Uncle Sammy lands on you. 



Page Twelve 



"THE KAISER REPENTANT" 

Mein Gott im Himmel, hear mein brayer, for 

somedings I must say, 
Der Imps of Satan called me names, und kicked 

me oud today. 
They say I vas a Demon, de vorst they efer 

met, 
They say, "Already you is vorse, than we, und 

no horns yet." 

They say if I should grow der horns und regu- 
lation dail, 

Dot Lucifer vill chump his chob, und hit der 
"sawdust drail." 

Und dot I is der reason, or der var vould nefer 
been, 

Ach, Gott, they say so many dings apout me 
dot is mean. 

They dell so much dot I pelieve der most of it is 

drue, 
Und dot's der reason vhy I come mid brayers, 

mein Gott, to you. 
I ask if you vill be mein friend, if I vill sue 

for beace — 
Und sbrinkle ashes on mein kopf, und eat chust 

Sweitzer kase. 

I is so mad mit kindness, I'll do any ding dot's 

right, 
I gife mein sacred bromise, und keep it ofer 

night, 
Und ven der vorld pelongs to me, I'll pe your 

closest friend, 
But if der horns und dail should grow, der var 

vill haf no end. 



Page Thirteen 



"FIXING THE BLAME" 

I take your valued paper, 'cause I want the 

latest news, 
I like your editorials and "other people's 

views." 
But the interesting readin\ and the news that 

'peals to me, 
Is of General Pershin's army on the other side 

the sea. 

Someone wrote a letter 'bout the boys all bein' 

drunk, 
But what's the use in printin' this pessimistic 

bunk, 
They got their taste of liquor before they 

crossed the sea, 
And General Pershin' aint to blame, nor sir, 

it's you and me. 

With apology to the Bible, let's amend John, 

3, 16, 
"For you and I so loved the booze," you see now 

what I mean, 
We voted it upon our sons, their patronage to 

hold, 
And thus prolong the business, and bring us 

more of gold. 

My only boy went over there to drive an am- 
bulance, 

And it makes me mad to read a word against 
the boys in France. 

I'll help to bear the burden of the war that's on 
our backs, 

But, as I was sayin', I wish you'd print the 
facts. 



Page Fourteen 



WHEN THE KAISER'S ON THE WIRE 

Vot is der madder, Gott, mit you, you answer 

not mein brayer? 
You know I dold you long ago, to help me mit 

mein war. 
I call you up so many dimes, but can no answer 

get, 
Berhaps you don't know who is me, I'm Kaiser 

William, yet. 

I vish to dell you how I is, and hope you are 

de same, 
But first, I vish you'd dell me Gott, vat's Vil- 

son's leedle game? 
Mein babers und mein friends they say dot he 

is nix for goot, 
But you know how it is somedimes, der friends 

don'd speak der trut. 

I dells mein beobles, Gott, dot you are smiling 

in der face, 
You are so glad pecause I sink der ships and 

leave no drace. 
Und ven I putcher leedle kids und vomens, den 

I say 
Dot you's der poss im Himmel, but der vorld 

pelongs to me. 



Page Fifteen 



"THE RUNAWAY" 

A team of nags stood on the street, 
Said one in a "nagging" way, 

"You antiquated bone-heap 
Let's make our get-away." 

They both agreed and off they went, 
(The one was old and grey) 

And hit the trail at record pace, 
(The other an antique bay). 

The street was strewn with merchandise 
That tumbled from the sleigh, 

There was crackers, cheese and kerosene, 
Soap, clothes pins, bread and hay. 

The thing that banged against their heels 

They tried to disengage, 
By "jack-knifing" a farmer's rig, 

Then crossed the lower bridge. 

And when they reached Division street 
And started down the stretch, 

They just began to limber up 
When someone made a catch. 

So do not judge your running mate, 
By the way he limps and groans, 

But by the pep and ginger 
In his antiquated bones. 



Page Sixteen 



"WORTH WHILE" 

If I could write a verse or two, 
As I have often wished to do. 

Td hope they'd make somebody smile, 
Perchance they read them after 'while. 

If I could reach the hearts of men, 

And let a little sunshine in, 
I'd consider it a joyous task 

No greater blessing would I ask. 

The pen if used aright will heal 

A broken heart, and none will feel 

It's subtle point, if it's engloved 

With words of sympathy and love. 

When wielded in the cause of right, 
Held in a sturdy grasp and tight, 

'Tis a weapon then that all should heed, 
Mightier than the sword, indeed. 

But if these lines by chance should go, 
To one who's bending under woe, 

I will ever feel it worth the while 

If they have caused this one to smile. 



Page Seventeen 



OPPORTUNITY 

If once you pass this way 

and do not find me in, 
Must hope within me die, 

will you come not back again? 

Do you knock at every door 

with measured beat and clear, 

That the halt, the lame and blind 
and all within may hear? 

If you knock upon my door 

and others hold the key, 
And you come not back again, 

wherein will it profit me? 

If you find one that is closed 

and held by Doubt and Fear, 

Do you take Faith and Courage with you 
and force an entrance here? 

Many hear you knocking, 

but do not welcome you, 
They're held as slaves by Ignorance 

and know not what to do. 

These are they who are burdened 

with Poverty and Grief, 
And if you come not back again, 

Where will they find Relief? 



Page Eighteen 



"PEACE AT ANY PRICE" 

Then came a man with gift of speech, 

Much traveled, and with power to preach. 

Who would persuade the common folk 
That Wilson's peace plan was a joke. 

That "Peace at any price" should be 
This country's aim and policy. 

"We then should turn swords into plows, 
And put our soldiers milking cows, 

To feeding hogs and chopping wood, 
And any other jobs they could, 

'A world democracy would be nice, 
But give us peace at any price.' " 

"Again," I say, "we should disarm, 

There's no occasion for alarm, 
Beside we read, 'Thou shalt not kill,' 

And Sherman said that war was Hell. 
'A peace at any price should be 

For all time and eternity.' " 



Page Nineteen 



"REVIVAL DAYS" 

Did you ever go to meeting in those old revival 
days, 
And the kindly usher showed you to a pew, 
So close up to the pulpit that the sympathetic 
gaze, 
Of the congregation turned on you. 

Then I know you had a creeping feeling, up 
and down your back, 
And a prickly-heat sensation through your 
hair. 
And you wished that you might vanish, through 
some convenient crack 
Lest you'd be called upon to offer prayer. 

You were fidgety and nervous, I know just how 
you felt, 
Till the invitation came to "hit the trail," 
And then the spell was broken, you were the 
first that knelt, 
And asked for mercy at the altar rail. 



Page Twenty 



'I SUFFER THIS FOR THEE" 

I dreamed I stood at the gates 

Of a city bright and fair, 
And gazed on the moving throng 

That passed before me there. 
I tho't I asked of one 

The cause of this array, 
He answered, "Jesus the Nazarene, 

Will be crucified to-day." 

I dreamed I saw in the midst 

Of that angry, threatening crowd, 

One who was laboring sore, 
Under a heavy load. 

And as He nearer drew 

He turned His eyes to'rd me, 

And I dreamed I heard Him say, 
"This I do for thee." 

I joined with the moving throng, 

And hurried on the way, 
On thro* the outer gates, 

Up rugged Calvary. 

And there, in my dream, 

I saw the Nazarene, 
Nailed to the cross He had borne 

That I might be redeemed. 



Page Tto>enty-One 



"WHEATLESS DAYS" 

We thank you, Mr. Hoover, for your meat- and 
wheatless days, 
The nation will be benefited in so many ways. 
Not only by a surplus of foods to send to 
France, 
But 'twill give our vital in'ards a whole lot 
better chance. 

The entire human system will be freed from 
many ills, 
And in a like proportion we'll be free from 
doctor bills! 
Indigestion, mumps and measles, ring-worm, 
warts and water-brash, 
These are just a few disorders cured by eat- 
ing barley mash. 

Sleeping sickness, gout and hook-worm, all dis- 
ease akin to man, 
Pain in back, distorted liver, disappear when 
eating bran. 
So we thank you, Mr. Hoover, tho* at first we 
made a fuss, 
What we gain by eating War Bread means 
far more than wealth to us. 



Page Twenty-Two 



"THE INITIATIVE" 

Why do you wait for the other man 

To "break the ice" for you ? 
Why aren't you willing to lead the van 

And show others what to do? 
Why don't you crowd right up to the front? 

E'en tho' you have to bear the brunt, 
And one of these days you'll do a stunt 

And get into the lime-light too. 

Why do you wait till the very last 

In making your start for the goal? 
Why do you let opportunity pass, 

Why isn't your name on the roll? 
Why not go after the choicest plums 

And not sit back and wait for the crumbs? 
Accepting most any old thing that comes 

Till you find yourself out in the cold? 

Why do you grumble and stew and fret 

Tho' things aren't coming your way? 
Why not say to yourself, "I'll get there yet," 

Then whistle and sing and be gay? 
If you study the lives of our great men 

You will find even they slip and fall now and 
then, 
But they have the back-bone, they get up again, 

BACK-BONE is an asset that pays. 

The world calls for leaders, for leaders of men, 

But they're scarce, and the reason we find, 
There's too many like you, who always depend 

On other's and plod behind. 
But take this advice, "If you'd see the show, 

It's better to sit in 'Jbald-head row,' 
Than to stand outside for an hour or so, 

'Cause you didn't get there in time." 



Page T rv enty ~ T hr ee 



OUR BROTHER-IN-LAW 

Our Brother-in-law is coming 

To see us, down the "Pike," 
Oh gee! but ain't it sudden? 

I wonder what he's like? 
I'll break the news to mother, 

And you, my sister dear, 
Go straighten up the parlor; 

The train will soon be here. 

I just got word from Mary, 

And this is what she said, 
"Look out down there, he's coming," 

And I nearly lost my head. 
I sometimes get excited, 

While talking o'er the phone: 
But this was sure the limit; 

I could hardly stand alone. 

Mary said we should meet him, 

So I guess us girls will go. 
He may be hard to manage: 

"Wild and woolly," don't you know. 
He may be just like other folks, 

He may be "Nix Come Rous" 
He may be "Och, Du Leiber," 

"Ve Verden Finden Ouse." 



Page T tv enty - F o ur 



"THE BOY SCOUTS" 

Do you know, boys, Columbia is looking for 
you — 
As the men of to-morrow — to pilot her 
through 
The turbulent seas that will dash her about, 
When her old pilots fail, and her shore- 
lights go out? 

Do you know you are destined, high places to 

fill? 
Though the critic may scoff and deride as he 

will? 
And the ladder which leads to the coveted 

height, 
Will be easier to climb, if you stick to the 

right? 

There's a place at the top for every "Boy 
Scout," 
And Columbia is steadily seeking them out, 
So you may gain honor, if you've courage and 
grit, 
But remember that TRUTH, is the chief 
requisite. 



Page Twenty-Five 



"AN ADMONITION" 

We have liked you, Mr. Roosevelt, 

'Cause you've proved yourself a man. 
And though we don't agree with everything, 

We must hold up Wilson's hands. 
And though ink works well on paper, 

And talk is very cheap, 
There's one thing mighty certain — 

We must sow if we would reap. 
Of the seed that has been scattered, 

Some has fallen on a stone, 
But there's much that now is growing, 

And should be left alone. 
Don't go digging at the bottom, 

Pawing 'round them with your boots, 
'Cause you can't expect a harvest, 

If you trample down the shoots. 
So really, Mr. Roosevelt, there is so much to do, 

We cannot stop to argue — but I'd suggest to 
you, 
"As a substitute for shrapnel, 'mud' balls are'nt 
any good, 

No more than are the cannon, you said were 
made of wood." 



Page Twenty-Six 



"THE RED CROSS" 

Dear Mother, none of us can tell what the future 
holds for us, 

But come what may we're going to stay till the 
foe is in the dust. 

My comrades now are waiting the order to ad- 
vance, 

Our cause is just and if we must, we'll fight and 
die with France. 

But Mother, there are others here to whom all 

honor's due, 
Whose loving care and loyalty, reminds me most 

of you. 
They do not charge the trenches yet we feel 

their presence near, 
To the cry of sick and wounded, there comes 

the answer, here. 

We're singing of the army, of the red, the white, 

and blue, 
But let us sing with fervor a song that as yet, is 

new. 
Let us sing of the Red Cross Martyrs, tho' the 

half can never be told, 
The song that will live thro' the ages, the song 

that will never grow old. 



Page T w en t y -S e ven 



"HEATLESS DAY" 

Oh, heatless day, tho' not my choice, 

'Tis better than an empty hod. 
No glowing hearth yet I rejoice 

To know the order's spread abroad. 
It's up to me to find a way, 

To keep from freezing heatless day, 
Heatless day, heatless day, 

When Garfield wished my coal away. 



"THE AFTERMATH" 

When the cruel war is over 

and the Hun is put to rout. 
We will settle down in Paris 

and we'll hang our shingle out, 
We will practice our professions 

and we'll wear the latest togs 
And we'll learn the Frenchmen's habits, 

Till it comes to eating frogs. 



Page T TV enty - Eight 



"TO THE BLACK BALLOT" 

Insignificant morsel of blackened clay: If 
you would serve the purpose for which you are 
suited — even as a child's plaything — rolled 
about, -trampled in the dust and lost, we might 
look upon you as a useful thing. 

Or, if time would turn backward to the Dark 
and Middle ages, when fear, hatred and dis- 
trust rankled in the hearts of the ignorant and 
superstitious of that time — then you might be 
considered an indispensable tool. But in this 
enlightened age, when Wisdom teaches us the 
equality of men, and that Love is the true rem- 
edy for evil, you have no place. 

Come out from your secret hiding, lest one 
be tempted — under the cloak of "Social Duty" 
— to spitefully use you against another. 

Come out from your white fellows, those 
emblems of purity, and no longer defile Fra- 
ternalism. 



Page Twenty-Nine 



"WHO'S WHO" 

These are the days when all honor and praise 

Is due to our mothers and sons, 
The mothers are sitting and patiently knitting 
Sweaters and socks, and things most befitting 

The boys "on the trail of the Hun." 

But how about Dad, does it make him feel bad? 

Does he feel he's been slighted? Oh, no. 
Of course he don't knit but he's glad to admit 

That buying a bond is a small part of it, 
That the mothers and sons should have ever bit 

Of the praise, if we conquer the foe. 



Page Thirty 



"TWO GRAVES" 

Under the sod in a distant land 
They have laid him down to rest. 

Far, far away from his own fireside, 
And the friends who loved him best. 

Under the sod on the fields of France, 
They have laid some mother's son, 

And though he may sleep till the dead are 
raised 
He, a crown of Victory's won. 



Under the sod in his Home-land, 
They have laid him down to rest, 

Kind words were said and tears were shed 
By those who loved him best. 

Under the sod in the Church-Yard 
Though far from the battle sound, 

He too, gave his life to his country, 
He too, has won a Crown. 




